01	Neal And Jack And Me						04:22
	02	Heartbeat						03:54
	03	Sartori In Tangier						03:34
	04	Waiting Man						04:27
	05	Neurotica						04:48
	06	Two Hands						03:23
	07	The Howler						04:13
	08	Requiem						06:38

(c) EG MUSIC LTD 1982
Music by King Crimson
Lyrics by Adrian Belew
"Two Hands" lyric by Margaret Belew

Adrian Belew: Guitar, Lead Vocal
Robert Fripp: Guitar, Organ, Frippertronics
Tony Levin: Stick, Bass Guitar, Support Vocal
Bill Bruford: Drumming


Beat: 30th Anniversary
Date of Release 1982

Beat is not as good as its predecessor (1981's Discipline), but it's not too shabby, either. The '80s version of Crimson (Robert Fripp - guitar, Adrian Belew - vocals/guitar, Tony Levin - bass, and Bill Bruford - drums) retains the then-modern day new wave sound introduced on Discipline. The band's performances are still inspired, but the songwriting isn't as catchy or strong. The moody love song "Heartbeat" has become a concert favorite for the band, and contains a Jimi Hendrix-like backwards guitar solo. Other worthwhile tracks include "Waiting Man," which features world music sounds (thanks to some stunning bass/percussion interplay), and "Neurotica" does an excellent job of painting an unwavering picture of a large U.S. city, with its jerky rhythms and tense vocals. With lots of different guitar textures, bass explorations, and uncommon drum rhythms present, King Crimson's Beat will automatically appeal to other musicians. But since they're fantastic songwriters as well, you don't have to be a virtuoso to feel the passion of their music. The 30th Anniversary edition featured 24 bit remastering by Fripp and Simon Heyworth. - Greg Prato





Heartbeat


AMG REVIEW: Originally included on Beat (1982), this track is one of King Crimson's most direct confrontations with concurrent pop music. "Heartbeat" features Adrian Belew (guitar/vocal) at his straight ahead, hook-filled love song best. As such, it also had tremendous cross-over appeal into middle-of-the-road FM "lite rock" radio. Likewise, its' non confrontational pop arrangement is a far cry from the typical rhythmically adventurous and calculated musical challenges generally associated with this quartet - consisting of: Belew, Tony Levin (Chapman stick/bass), Bill Bruford (drums) and founding member Robert Fripp (guitar).
Beneath that veneer however, lies an intricate blending of melodies and sonic textures more characteristic of King Crimson. Most immediately evident is Belew's alternately chiming and shimmering fretwork - which includes a classic example of his unique bent tone manipulation. Solid support from Bruford's subtle backbeat is joined first by Levin, and then Fripp as they unravel their respective sinuous contributions. Slowly the track builds into a nimble Belew (dare I say) power ballad - accented by Bruford and Levin's carefully balanced and ongoing dialogue.

"Heartbeat" was issued as a single - b/w the totally improvised and free-form "Requiem" - and became a performance favourite from the '80s band. When it was revived by the 1994 double-trio incarnation of King Crimson, Belew added a short introduction which incorporates the multifaceted midi guitar technology yielding a very realistic piano effect. - Lindsay Planer







King Crimson - Beat

Member: (!rKu$

Adrian Belew (guitar, lead vocal)
Robert Fripp (guitar, organ, frippertronics)
Tony Levin (stick, bass guitar, support vocal)
Bill Bruford (drumming)

Beat represents my very first exposure to King Crimson's music at the young age of 16 or so. If you told me then that I'd be writing about this album 18 years later, with plans to post those writings on a worldwide accessible medium called the Internet one day, I'd look at you sideways and laugh. But here I am and I must say "Tempus fugit"!...oh wait, wrong band.

Any-hoo, I became curious about this band after finding out it was the band that Bill Bruford decided to leave Yes for. Soon thereafter, I heard about Beat from another musical junkie friend of mine at high school. Based only on his recommendation, without hearing note one, and knowing Bruford was involved, I went out and bought it. I figured, "With a name like King Crimson, they must have something interesting to offer" so I went for it. It's funny how true that self-convincing statement would turn out to be.

Two milestones are associated with this release. It is the first album produced by a non-member of the group (Rhett Davies) and it is also the first time in KC's history that the exact same band personnel were involved on two consecutive albums.

"Neal and Jack and Me" opens the album with the trademark interlocking guitar techniques which were first displayed by Fripp & Belew on their 1981 release, Discipline. A few of the songs, including this one along with the album's title, are the product of Adrian's inspiration with beat generation authors & poet's. (Ginsberg - "The Howler", Kerouac & Cassady - "Neal and Jack and Me" & William S. Burroughs - "Sartori in Tangier").

"Neurotica", with its frantic, avant-garde mix of Belew's guitar effect produced "raging city" sounds and Bruford's endless assault on his drum kit make this the most amazing track on the album to me. This song by itself is worth the price of admission, in my opinion. It's funny, even after my umpteen thousand listenings to this trippy song, I still manage to be startled by the sudden onslaught of drums and guitar produced sirens/squeals/traffic noises in the beginning of the song. Maybe because it's difficult to gauge it entry with the humming, droning intro. It hits you like a speeding city bus, you'll see.

Although Beat is probably seen by most as Crimson's boldest attempt at "commercial success", I don't understand why so many longtime fans and even fans of this period dislike it, in many cases. The only thing I can find to dislike about it personally is that it is too damn short! It ends way before you're ready for it to. Other than that, I can't find a bad moment on it.

The musical style ranges from the quasi-commercial ("Heartbeat", "Two Hands") to the upbeat and quirky ("Sartori in Tangier", "Neurotica") to avant-garde and pleasantly disturbing ("The Howler", "Requiem"). It is my favorite release of the 3 primary colored releases of the 80's and I would recommend this one to anyone looking for a starting point to discover the band:.much as I did, 18 years back. Check it out for yourself.

Happy listening,
(!rKu$